My Final Thoughts on the GRAIL NASA Tweetup

Thanks a bunch for reading all about my wonderful perfect experience. If you are on Twitter, follow me @catahouligan

Just some additional thoughts:
You can't predict the things that will happen in life. I went into this knowing it was going to be special. Truly though, I had no idea. Really, nothing could have prepared me for this. I feel like I have come out of this a different person, with this amazing network of people, with knowledge, with more drive. I feel like I have been told a secret that very few people will ever get to know. This was something I very much needed for a number of reasons that I won't get into here.

You also can't predict who the people you will meet are. All you can do is be so, so thankful when your path crosses with awesome people that you mesh with instantly and hope that you get to cross paths again!

So enough sentimental stuff- basically, if I had to sum this up in one Sherry-type sentence-

The GRAIL NASA Tweetup was the most fantastic event I have ever attended and THANK YOU NASA, Stephanie Schierholz, and everyone else that took part in that week- my head is now full of  memories I will cherish for the rest of my life!!!

Hope to see you all at MSL!! :)


(I will update this with more stuff as I remember or get the time to post pics, videos, transcripts, etc. And all my future launch stuff will go here now too, I kind of put a lot of work into this, so might as well.)

Launch Day!

Saturday morning at 4am, we woke up and left the hotel by 5:30am to meet up with the bus for launch attempt number two. Our group size was half of what it was Thursday since many could not stay. (Sadly, guys. Hope I get to see a lot of you at MSL time!)

We did not go to the causeway again, from what I heard because of the wind direction, they were worried about hazardous stuff in the air coming that way, so they took us over to KARS park. In my opinion, it was a way better view anyway- head on and the surrounding scenery was photogenic to the max.

They scrubbed launch attempt number one, again. Everyone was on pins and needles because this was the last launch attempt NASA could accommodate us for. For me, it is not a big deal, I decided that I was done chasing this rocket if it didn't go off that morning, I was spending way too much in gas to go back and forth. But I felt really bad for people who were sitting there waiting to see their first launch ever, who spent tons of money and came halfway around the world to see it.

Before the second launch attempt, we all sat around talking and laughing. I have never felt so close to such a large amount of people in such a short period of time. It was intense, like you suddenly have this new family you are sharing this amazing experience with. I feel like I have known some of these people my entire life. It is like you all have this really special secret that you can try to explain all you want, but people won't quite 'get it' until they have been a part of it. It bonds you all together.

Anyway, while we were waiting, I ate peanut butter out of a jar and tried to tell @fidget02 that the fire ant bites she got when she stepped in a pile of the beasts, would calm down in ten minutes. We actually have this on video and I still have to upload it to youtube. I have this thing for foreign accents and unfamiliar words, so I was torturing her, making her tell me funny British words. When I wasn't harassing her, I was petting manatees.

There were these two manatees (sea cows) hanging out by the dock because someone turned on the fresh water and they LOVE to drink the fresh water. I went over and was just a few feet from them, and I decided that how often does this happen and figured I would try to pet their little cute noses. So I laid down on the dock and reached down- Manatee #1 wasn't having any of it, he kept ducking under, but Manatee #2 actually LOVED getting its nose scratched and I think it was actually having a hard time decided between drinking the fresh water and getting its nose scratched. Little CUTIES!!!!! That has always been on my bucket list, and I am really excited that I got to do that. They are gentle, amazing creatures, and it was an honor and a privilege that it trusted me to let me do that. 

This killed all the time up until the second launch attempt number two. We all waited in suspense and yes, it was GO!!!! :)

As always, my hands were shaking and I decided since I had to lean over the water, it was not a good idea to hold my phone out to video (trust me, I would have dropped it!). So I only took photos, but they were FABULOUS!! My photos came out so neat, I still have to edit them and get them on a public album, but if you are on Facebook, you can find the originals on there.

So 3-2-1...and the Delta II launched GRAIL off on their journey to the moon!

The crowd energy...indescribable!

After the launch, we all took pics with each other, through this whole thing, I did not take many people pictures, and I realized it and tried to get as many as I could before we got back on the bus.

We got back to the parking lot, said our goodbyes. Then @Iamtay and I got back to her hotel and we said our goodbyes. I actually got really teary eyed on the way home. I am such a nerd, but I really had the most amazing week.

Preview of the launch, photographically.

This was the sunrise view we had of SLC 17-- see the two big towers to the left? The Delta II rocket carrying GRAIL is to the right of the right hand tower. It was stunning. Even the birds came out for the view!

Unedited launch photo. The sound went through my body.

Follow the white contrail all the way up past the clouds- Delta II is going, going, gone......see where it splits off a dark line? That is the shadow of the contrail! It was so neat, sometimes the clouds mess up your view of the rocket but give you great photo ops!

NASA Tweetup, Part 7? The Endless BBQ and The Planetarium

This is the story of a BBQ that is Endlessly awesome. A tradition after the launches, it is put on by a couple of awesome "spacetweeps" (clever name for space loving Twitter people), who provide a ton of food and beer. I went to the one after the launch for 135 and I remember someone saying they had about 200 people in and out of the house that night, I remember seeing every beer and liquor imaginable there, on a help yourself basis.

For the Endless BBQ after the GRAIL launch, Cocoa Beach Brewing Company offered up their facility, with their newly built deck out back. This place is the cutest bar I have ever seen. If you walked in not knowing where you were, you would think you were in a really cute coffee shop. I can't remember what kind of beer was in the keg, (help me out here guys) but I know I drank a lot of it. The food was great, the company was great. At what party can you sit around drinking lots of beer and talking math and physics and space? Endless BBQ, that's where!

I can't remember half the conversations I had that night, but I remember meeting some fabulous people, hearing awesome music, drinking wonderful beer and having a super good time.

One of the people attending GRAIL so generously offered to let me share her hotel room on Cocoa beach with her since I was absolutely not going to drive back to Orlando after this. The next morning, I woke up and walked over to the beach in the dark, and watched the our star rise over the Atlantic. It was spectacular, I love walking on the beach and I love sunrises.

Back up though. The night before as we were going to sleep, an email came through to our phones saying the Friday morning launch attempt was canceled, but NASA so generously offered to accommodate us for one more launch attempt Saturday morning. So that meant Friday was a free day. This is why I was on the beach Friday morning and not out chasing rocket launches...

I came home that day, relaxed, played with Pupples (it missed me so!) and got ready to head back out to Cocoa. It was announced that Dr. Randii Wessen from JPL would be speaking at the Brevard Planetarium though that evening, and I definitely wanted to go to that. So I headed back out and showed up there about an hour before the talk to do some homework.

Well, Dr. Wessen was already there along with the head of the Astronomy/Physics department, Dr. Fiorella Terenzi (they are both on Wikipedia, look them up). I sat and talked with them, such interesting people. Dr. Wessen's talk was so interesting, especially the part that explained how Curiosity (the Mars rover about to launch in November) would land on Mars.

After the lecture, there was a "reception" out in the science center part of the planetarium. They had all sorts of fun stuff there for kids to learn about scientific concepts, lots of "toys" that even us (yes, me) adults had fun with.

As I was speaking to the lady from NASA with the moon rock, (I apologize for not remembering names here), Dr. Terenzi invited me to dinner with herself, Dr. Wessen, and a bunch of other people.

It was an awesome evening with awesome, intellectual conversation- I there were several other NASA folks there as well, along with a student of Dr. Terenzis and a fellow Tweetup attendee.

From L to R: Tamre, Dr. Terenzi, Dr. Wessen, Me, Lisa

(My phone was dying so no flash, poor lighting)

Also, Dr. Wessen worked with Carl Sagan and on the Voyagers. If you are not aware, Carl Sagan is my hero and the Voyagers are my absolute favorite thing to read about. I love learning about their backstories, I love hearing anything about them. I was at a loss for thoughts though, I was so curious about them and what it was like to work with Dr. Sagan, yet I couldn't really think of anything to ask him about them. Really, it was just a nice dinner, with really intelligent people. And they had me try smoked salmon, which I had never had, and I am now hooked on! :)

I love good conversations. I am a talker, I am very inquisitive and I LOVE to learn and laugh. Meeting people with the passion for/or knowledge of Physics, Space, Math is rare. So it is like a flood gate opening when I am around people who I can talk about this stuff with and not get eye rolls or sighs of impatience. I was in my element, and I honestly drove away from dinner so happy. I didn't want this awesome week to end.

After dinner, I went back my friend's hotel and crashed. We had to be up at 4am to meet up with the tour bus at 6am for the final launch attempt we could view from NASA property!

NASA Tweetup-Part 6: 3-2-1..just kidding.

So I got home late the night before and before I went to sleep, I plugged all of my technologies in. I wanted to make sure I had full batteries for everything. I had a dream that I was late and missed the whole thing. It almost became a reality because I am an inept alarm clock setter, and I got lucky enough to be behind the only other (15 mph under the speed limit) person on the one lane part of Narcoosee Road at 4:45 in the morning.

When I pulled up, I saw a crowd had gathered around something. I walked up and there is Neil deGrasse Tyson with a laser pointer giving us a 6am astronomy lesson in the parking lot! It was fabulous! Shortly thereafter, we got on our bus and headed out to the causeway.

Once we got out there, I ended up with a group of about ten people at the far end of everyone else- but we had a full view of the rocket so we could see it clear the pad. In my opinion, that is the best part- watching it clear the pad. You can get a good view of it in the air anywhere- but seeing it clear the pad is the unique, awesome view being up close affords you. So we waited. We talked. Sang the "GO!" song up until the weather part- NO GO on weather! It was up and down- here is how it went.

GRAIL had two instantaneous launch windows. They were about an hour apart. If it wasn't ready to go at that second, it was a no go for launch because it HAD to be launched right then. See, usually launches have pretty big windows of time to fix any issues- like a person wandering into restricted areas, weather holds, etc. So they can basically reschedule the new launch time for sometime within that window. Not GRAIL- it had once chance and once chance only, twice each morning, precisely on the dot. So they scrubbed the first launch time that morning, and we waited for the second launch time. At this point, clouds started rolling in, and I predicted there was no WAY it was going to launch with clouds like that hanging out. I was right.

They scrubbed and we went back to KSC. They would try again tomorrow.

The cool thing was, we were each given a complimentary admission ticket to Kennedy Space Center, so many of us headed there after this because it was still really early.

I met up with some people and watched the "Hubble" IMAX movie in 3-D, which was SUPERB! Then I met up with some different people and went to the exhibit they had under the theater- had a lot of really cool space stuff in there, including a piece of the moon we were allowed to touch. Really neat to touch something that was once a part of the moon.

I will definitely say this, NASA goes all out when it comes to public education. They had some really neat people there, but I will get to that later, because I actually got to meet some of them at dinner the next night.

So that afternoon, Neil deGrasse Tyson was going to be speaking again at an informal q&a session. I definitely went. I got to ask him another question again, but I will be writing a separate post for that because I asked him a really neat question and got a really neat answer.

We then went and stood in line for Nichelle Nichols autograph. I was never a big Star Trek fan, I watched it when I was a kid, but never a junkie, but I have a friend who was, so I stood in line and got her to sign the back of my lanyard next to Neil deGrasse Tyson, and a GRAIL postcard for my friend.

The good thing about the launch being delayed is that it also delayed the end of the Tweetup. But sadly, about half of our people had to leave. I lucked out.

But, before some people left, it was Endless BBQ time---the LEGENDARY ENDLESS BBQ!! It really is legendary. It deserves it's own post as well. :)

Link to the NASA Tweetup Broadcast-Guest Speakers.

So if you missed the afternoon program on Ustream, here is the link. I can't watch it because I don't want to see myself on video or hear myself asking questions...I'm not a big fan of being behind a camera I am not controlling. Maybe eventually I will...:)

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tweetup

That is all of the speakers that I mentioned in yesterday's blog post. Neil deGrasse Tyson is at the very end. (PART TWO!) Oh and now I remember I also asked Jim Adams a question about the Voyagers but I can't remember now. I love those little Voyagers :).

So just some highlights during NDT's talk- again, it is in part two,

7:43- That is MY water bottle! :)It is still sitting on my desk...I can't throw it away...
15:20-His whipped cream story- "Either the laws of physics are different in your coffee shop...."
19:20- "We define who and what we are as a culture..."
21:51- "And adult field trip.."
22:41-"We become jaded, forget what it is to ask questions..." (This is also where he thought I called humans pathetic..haha)

GRAIL NASA Tweetup, Part 5- The Guest Speakers!

I am just going to make a list. I don't know how else to do this without getting more off track than I know I will as it is. Follow me!? Just a few notes first. So somehow I ended up on camera practically the entire time. I had people texting me during the program watching on UStream telling me to wave, commenting on how excited I looked, telling me to give them shout-outs, telling me to wake up. I did not realize the cameras would be right in my face, I thought they would be taping from behind us, and the speakers would be up on the podium. No. For  the most part, they speakers stood about two feet in front of me, or paced back and forth in front of me. Wanna talk self conscious? Ha. Try being out in the Florida heat all day, with serious makeup meltdown, while all tired from taking an anti-nausea pill whose main warning is drowsiness. But I am a champ. And it was nice and cold in the room, so I was able to just kinda curl up inside my rain jacket while I sat there. 

So the speakers: 

1. Charles Bolden (NASA Administrator)

2. Nichelle Nichols (surprise!) (Played Lt. Uhura on Star Trek)

3. Jim Adams (NASA Deputy Director, Planetary Science)

4. Maria Zuber (GRAIL Principal Investigator)

5. Sami Asmar (GRAIL Deputy Project Scientist, JPL)

6. Doug Ellison (Eyes on the Solar System demonstration)

7. Sally Ride Science team (MoonKam presentation)

8. Vern Thorp (Manager, NASA Programs, ULA)

9. Stu Spath,(Chief Spacecraft Engineer, Lockheed Martin)

10. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON!!! (Astrophysicist, Frederick P. Rose Director at the Hayden Planetarium- this guy was Pluto's demise! :) 

So Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is what I aspire to be. This man has passion, he is a fireball, he is enthusiastic, he is realistic, logical, no-nonsense, etc. He is an ambassador for science/math literacy. He also used my water bottle for his demonstration, and in response to something he was saying about humans, I responded under my breath "Apathetic" and he heard me but thought I said "Pathetic" and the entire room got a laugh out of it. Including him. :) 

Also, Charles Bolden called me smart. He asked the room if anyone knew when the next manned spaceflight and cargo spaceflight were going to happen, and of course because I am an avid follower of SpaceX, my hand shot up and I told him 2014 for manned and November for cargo. He pointed his finger at me and said, this girl is smart. So I retorted with, good, give me a job, to which everyone, including him, laughed. And I responded again with, "No, I am serious I need a job!!!" 

:) 

I got to interact with them a lot. Sami Asmar and I got into a little discussion about an equation he had on his powerpoint during a break. Not often you get to talk math with a project scientist from NASA! 

Also, I LOVED the presentations on the MoonKam and Eyes on the Solar System. Two really, really cool projects- I will have to get links. I will likely do a blog with links and explanations to a lot of really neat stuff. I learned SO much in a matter of a few hours. 

After everything was over, we did a group photo under the mock Soyuz. Lots of our speakers even got in the picture! After that, I got to meet Neil deGrasse Tyson, have a picture with him and I had him sign my lanyard. He was SO SO SO nice. Down to earth, loved hugs, was just so involved with us. He didn't act like he was above us, he just educated us. It was fantastic and he is SUCH an awesome story teller. When I walked away from him, I told him to remember this face, I will be working with him one day! :) a

Again, I am sure as I finish this blog, there are details that are going to come up that I forgot, there was so much packed into the day. Just remember, starting with seeing Endeavour to this point is the entire day. It was almost intellectual overload, I felt like I was walking in a dream. I mean, if you know me, you know I was in my element to the max. 

So that was the official first day, or unofficial second day of the Tweetup. I headed home and got there around 9pm. And I had to be up at 4am the next morning to be back out at NASA to get on the tour bus to go to the launch...

One more thing- here are a few of my favorite quotes from the day:

"Math is extremely import. In fact if you don't study algebra, you're not setting the right path in my mind-you're not setting the right path for yourself. Regardless of whether you go into science or math... if you end up being an artist or poet... it is important you have the ability to understand the world around you and analyze that." 

-Jim Adams

"It will change our understanding of who we are in the universe."

-Jim Adams (Speaking about the possibility of finding life on Europa)

"It (Atlas V) leaped off the pad with authority and pushed Juno on to Jupiter, but in all my career I've never seen a rocket launch so beautiful, so powerful, as a Delta II launch"..."Delta 2 is like a tall lady pushing her babies off into space"

-Jim Adams

"He has at least forced the public dialogue" 

-Charlie Bolden (Speaking about Barack Obama)

"Nothing is impossible. If you can imagine it, dream it, you can do it."

-Nichelle Nichols

NASA Tweetup- Part 4- The Rest of the Tour

So after we left the VAB, we stopped at the famous Countdown Clock which just outside of the parking lot. This is THE Countdown Clock- the one that is in all of the press photos, directly across- 3.5 miles- from launchpad 39A. This was the view of the final launches of Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour.

Everyone was rotating out for a picture with the clock. Here is the thing- the field was infested with sandspurs. If you are unaware of what these hideous things are- they are these tiny little spiked balls of dead plant material- and they attach to anything that touches them. They are SHARP and they are in clusters. I knelt down to take a pic for a friend, and when I stood up the back of my pants had them scattered from my waist, down to my tennis shoes. I had to have some buddies pick them off for me...last thing you want to do is have a seat with a cluster of those attached to your pants.

This was a quick stop. We then proceeded on to Launchpad 41, where Curiosity will launch out on an Atlas V in November. The pad was empty, and they had a speaker, but the problem was that I have no tolerance for heat. None. At all. I am a northerner at heart, always will be and my tolerance for standing out in the sun is about zero. I tried to hide in the shade of a Hummer with another buddy out there, but it was too much, I started to get that nauseous buzzy feeling I used to get when I would ride horses at high noon in the dead heat of July when I was a kid. I went back on the bus to sit in the air and missed most of the guys speech. It was either that or pass out. I probably would have been fine if I wasn't still battling the sudden mystery illness, but my body was already being mean to me, and I did NOT want to risk getting sicker and missing the AWESOME afternoon lineup they had planned for us.

We then traveled to pad 17 where the Delta stood. Unfortunately, rollback of the tower would not be until that night, so all we could see was the rocket boosters and about 3/4 of the body of the rocket. Again, we were in the sun, and again, I went to the shade to stand with some others, but I couldn't take it. I was SO nauseous, and so ill feeling, I got on the bus and took an anti-nausea pill to try to quell the nausea. It was that bad, I thought I was going to have to miss the speakers. (At this point I am pretty sure it was more to do with being sick than the sun. The sun was being tolerated by everyone else, so I think I was just really super sensitive because I felt like crap).

Anyway, I got pics of everything I talked about here, I still have to sort through all these photos and figure out what site is the easiest and most organized for uploading them onto. It was an amazing tour, despite being sick. Thank goodness we got to see Endeavour first though, turning the corner and seeing that shuttle right in front of me was by far one of the most priceless, irreplaceable moments of my life. I am sure that I will go back as I am looking through pictures and write new entries as details come back to me too. I just want to get the gist of everything down here first before I forget! There is so much more to talk about!

The next few entries will be about the guest speakers, launch day 1, endless bbq, the planetarium, launch day 2, goodbyes, and one last meetup to hangout with my new pal Justine from the UK before she headed back across the pond!

NASA Tweetup, Part 3- Endeavour

This deserves it's own entry. 

Now, those of you who know me, know that one thing I was so sad I never got while the shuttle was in service, was a really good picture of me with the shuttle in the background. I had been anticipating the tour since the day I found out I was selected and the main reason was that the VAB being a tour stop meant it was highly likely we would see the shuttle inside. At this time, all the shuttles are in the process of being decommissioned, therefore they have been rotating in and out, and I knew Endeavour was in there currently.


Stop 1: Vehicle Assembly Building 


First, a quick background on the Vehicle Assembly Building, a.k.a. VAB. It was originally built to assemble the Saturn V rocket. This means it is HUGE. According to it's Wikipedia page:

 "The VAB is 526 feet (160.3 m) tall, 716 feet (218.2 m) long and 518 feet (157.9 m) wide. It covers 8 acres (3 ha), and encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet (3,665,000 m³) of space."

Take a minute to digest that. Now, the tour guide on our bus told us that when we walked in to keep walking because everybody stops when they first walk in because they are so amazed by the size of it. So, we unload and my heart is pounding, and in we go. 

It is impossible to control the jaw drop when you first enter. This building is like a nerd cathedral. I felt like dropping to my knees and crying. I don't think there is any way to accurately describe this building- all I know is that when I looked up, I got dizzy. It was almost like the feeling you get when you are really high up, but in reverse.

So next, we got to walk through the building. It was almost haunting in a sense, it was so empty. Banners with well wishes to previous shuttle missions, a wall with the signatures of all the ex-employees, mission emblems, all adorned the "walls" as we walked through. Then we get to the end of the hallway and turn left, and there she is. 

Endeavour. 

First, a backstory. Endeavour and I were not the best of friends before this day. Last year she toyed with my emotions when I went out to see her launch at 4:30 in the morning, just to have her scrub around T-5 minutes. This year, I got to see her launch, but she went up into the clouds within seconds and disappeared, so I resigned to the fact that Endeavour just wasn't ever going to be as dear to me as Atlantis, or my absolute favorite, Discovery. But Endeavour definitely redeemed herself. 

Even sitting there all torn apart, she had this grace about her, she was so stoic. Kind of like an apprentice who had fulfilled the expectations of their teacher, and exceeded them as well. The baby of the fleet, sitting there in front of me, I felt like she was grinning at me, as if to tell me, "Hey, you didn't think I was really going to let you down, did you?". I was speechless. I even have it on video! There is no other way to be. How else can you feel when you are sitting in front of one of the most profound pieces of American history? To know that only a handful of people will ever get this kind of encounter with a shuttle, I felt so, so very honored. 

They gave us a half an hour in the VAB. It felt like 5 minutes. Soon, they were rounding us up to head back out to the bus. As I backed away from Endeavour, I blew her a kiss. I don't care what other people think of me, although, this group would be the last of anyone to judge my actions. Endeavour earned her special place in my memories.

I did get some pictures in front of her, I then snapped away with my DSLR, but unfortunately, I lost all of the pictures I took up until I was walking out of the VAB. I will say this, the room Endeavour sat in was tiny compared to the rest of the VAB. Think of a bathroom in a mansion. That was the scale. 

On the way out, they showed us the wall where the ex-shuttle workers had signed. So many signatures, so many jobs lost. My wish for these people, is that our fellow citizens stop and reflect on just how dedicated these people were to their jobs. I know many people think they could have easily walked knowing the end was coming, but these are specialists, and these shuttles are their babies. To walk out on them before their time was through would have been an injustice. Each and every one of us should hope for the same thing out of a career for ourselves, as it was and forever will be their passion. I will leave it at that, as my opinions are not what this is about. 

I will say though, my most sincere thanks to all of the workers, the crews and the shuttles Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour, and of course to the lost crew and shuttles Columbia and Challenger. 

A dream of mine has been fulfilled, I could have been finished there and been satisfied with my NASA Tweetup experience. But they had way more in store for us...

NASA Tweetup- Part Two, Introductions

Day two has to be split into two, maybe even three blog posts. Between the tours and the guest speakers, there is so much to share. I am going to just talk about the first half of the day- the tours. Let the Tweetup begin! :)

I arrived at KSCVC around 8am. There were still people checking in and there was a crowd of attendees hanging out in front of the check in area. I found some people I knew and waited. They ushered us into the Debus center for introductions once everybody had checked in. Now we all had to take a turn standing up and introducing ourselves. We had to say our name, our twitter handle, and an interesting fact. I can talk up a storm, but in order to talk into a microphone, I have to be prepared- mainly because I can hear my voice and it always startles me. This was an incredibly diverse crowd. By the time it got to me, I just stood up (don't forget- over 150 people in the room) and this is basically what I said, "Hi, my name's Sherry Valare, my Twitter is @Catahouligan, I am a math and astronomy major. Oh and I own the dog." Of all the things I could say but hey, the good news is that I mentioned Pupples and the better news is that people knew what that meant.

Now, fast forward, introductions are over, and they announce it is time to head to the bus for the tours. We had four buses, I hopped on Bus 1 with some of my other buddies (and Bus 1 was definitely the cool bus, by the way). Moving right along...

The GRAIL NASA Tweetup-Part One

I am going to break this up into a few parts I will write over the next week or so. This event was so overwhelming, and I am still digesting everything. I met and conversed with a sampling of the greatest minds on this planet. I met Space Shuttle Endeavour. I sat at a BBQ and talked math and physics equations with my new buddies. I experienced things that most people will only ever get to experience via television or photograph. I played in a space-lovers candy shop paradise for a week and honestly it was one of the most gratifying experiences I will ever have. My mind is stretched by this, it can't be undone. NASA Tweetup, you rocked my WORLD! :) 

The first day of the Tweetup was credential pick up and the pre-event dinner  we all planned at Dixie Crossroads Restaurant. I woke up Tuesday morning really sick. I was nauseous and throwing up, and I honestly thought it was going to ruin the whole week for me. I felt horrible, but I went out to pick up my stuff anyway. When I got to the press building on SR 3, I checked in and was given my awesome Tweetup badge and my swag bag. All sorts of fun NASA and GRAIL logo adorned items, would make any fan super happy. At this point, it got real. It made it quite easy to ignore the fact I felt like falling over. 

The Press Accreditation Building

Next up on the agenda was dinner. Time to meet a ton of people. I had some time to kill, and it was unseasonably cool outside, so I headed over to Spaceview Park and took a little 20 minute snooze on a park bench on the water. When I opened my eyes the Vehicle Assembly Building was the first thing I saw. 

 

My NASA Tweetup Badge

I headed over to Dixie Crossroads, and dinner was fantastic. I met around 60 people in one sitting, and the energy in the room was exhilarating. The conversations you have when surrounded by a mass of people who share the same exact passion as you, are fantastic. On top   of that, you already "know" these people in theory, so it was just a super fun night. Just a note, Dixie Crossroads serves these corn fritter things- either eat one or prepare to ruin your diet. They are addictive! 

The night slowly came to a close, I felt like I had at least introduced myself to everyone there, and it was time to head home and get some sleep. The next morning we had to be at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex by 8:30am for day one of our actual NASA sponsored activities. 

In hindsight, unless you are a veteran of these things, there was absolutely nothing that could have fully made me comprehend the things I was about to see and the people I was about to meet over the days that were to follow. 

My "Endeavour".

There is SO MUCH to tell about this week. To summarize, amazing sights, amazing conversation, but mainly AMAZING PEOPLE! Well...and this...

Yep. That is ME with ENDEAVOUR!!!! I am standing just a few yards from a space shuttle. It rendered me speechless if you can believe it.

Poster Project

A little shout out from a once in a lifetime location never hurt anybody. :) Look in the lower right hand corner of that poster. (Thanks again "Rocketman" for your thoughtfulness!) Details on this to come later, but my mission is clear! You will see people, you will see! 

(And YES that is the REAL ATLANTIS and there is a signature on that belongs to ME!)

"NASA Invites 150 Twitter Followers to Lunar Launch "

Media Release of our event from NASA:

News release: 2011-276                                                                     Sept. 1, 2011

NASA Invites 150 Twitter Followers to Lunar Launch 

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: 
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-276&cid=release_2011-276

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA has invited 150 followers of the agency's Twitter accounts to a two-day launch Tweetup Sept. 7-8. The Tweetup is expected to culminate in the launch of the twin moon-bound GRAIL spacecraft aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The launch is targeted for 5:37 a.m. PDT (8:37 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 8. The two GRAIL spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail from crust to core. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about the moon and provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

Tweetup participants were selected from more than 800 people who registered online. They will share their Tweetup experiences with their followers through the social networking site Twitter.

Participants represent the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Spain and the United Kingdom. Attendees from the U.S. come from 32 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Beginning at noon PDT (3 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, Sept. 7, NASA will broadcast a portion of the Tweetup when attendees talk with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; Jim Adams, deputy director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington; Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge; Sami Asmar, GRAIL deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Frederick P. Rose Director at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium in New York. To watch the broadcast, visit:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tweetup . The event will also be streamed live, with a moderated chat, at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

Participants also will tour NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, including a close-up visit to the launch pad.

Reporters interested in interviewing Tweetup attendees should contact Stephanie Schierholz at 202-358-1100 or stephanie.schierholz@xxxxxxxx. Reporters interested in covering the afternoon program Sept. 7 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex must secure access through Andrea Farmer by 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. EDT) Sept. 6 at 321-449-4318 or afarmer@xxxxxxxxxx.

Previously, NASA invited groups to attend the launch of the Juno spacecraft on its way to Jupiter and five space shuttle launches: Atlantis' STS-129, STS-132 and STS-135 missions, Discovery's STS-133 mission and Endeavour's STS-134 mission.

To follow participants on Twitter as they experience the prelaunch events and GRAIL's liftoff, follow the #NASATweetup hashtag and the list of attendees at: http://twitter.com/nasatweetup/grail-launch

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the GRAIL mission. For more information about GRAIL, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/grail or http://grail.nasa.gov .

To connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/connect .

Veronica McGregor 818-354-9452
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
veronica.c.mcgregor@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Stephanie L. Schierholz 202-358-4997
Headquarters, Washington
stephanie.schierholz@xxxxxxxx

!!!!!!! :) !!!!!!!!

We got our itineraries today!! Hurry, give me some synonyms for excited!!

First things first...I really like that the final item on the "prohibited items" list is "PETS". I wasn't seriously going to bring Pupples... :) But good thing this was mentioned, because it seals the deal for sure now ;)

The first half of Wednesday, we will be touring Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This includes stops at the VAB (guess what amazing beast is sleeping in there?!), SLC-17 and LC-41, and the Countdown Clock. SLC-17 is #GRAIL is launching from and LC-41 is where the Mars Science Laboratory will launch from soon. So we are basically going to be up close to something that will orbit the Moon and another something that will orbit Mars. It's unreal.

Following this dream tour, we will be going back to KSCVC for lunch and then a mega superb lineup of guest speakers/presentations including the following:

-Jim Adams (@NASAJim), deputy director, Planetary Division, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, introduces Administrator Charles Bolden

–MoonKAM (@GRAIL_MoonKAM) presentation from the Sally Ride Science (@SallyRideSci) team

– Sami Asmar, GRAIL deputy project scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

– Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

-Eyes on the Solar System (@NASA_Eyes) demo with Doug Ellison (@Doug_Ellison), JPL Visualization Producer 

– Vern Thorp, manager, NASA Programs, ULA (@ULAlaunch)

. – Stu Spath, chief spacecraft engineer, Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) 

And my personal favorite: 
– Neil deGrasse Tyson (@NeilTyson), Frederick P. Rose director at the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History (@AMNH)

Then Thursday morning, we have to be at KSCVC at 6am to board the bus to take us out to the NASA Causeway which is where we will view the launch from. It is between 3.5 and 4 miles away from the launch pad. That is an amazing view. 

I think I am out of words. I can't even process all of this. I can't believe I am part of this. 
**********************************************************************************
I will be all over Twitter (since that is kinda the point after all) on September 6th, 7th, and 8th. Follow me- @Catahouligan. 


If you do not have a Twitter account, click in this little link:
http://www.twitter.com/catahouligan 


Also: 
Beginning at 3 p.m. on Sept. 7, NASA will broadcast the Tweetup program on http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tweetup. Portions of the Tweetup may be broadcast on NASA Television, online at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Amazing!

We haven't received our itineraries for the Tweetup yet, but still some neat news as of the last week.

Dr. Sally Ride *will* be at the Tweetup!! She was the first American woman to go into space, along with many other great accomplishments.(You can read more about her here)I really, really hope we get a chance to talk to the guests one on one, I have so much I want to ask her about her life, about her career, about overcoming adversity. I am so stoked!!

I derive my inspiration and motivation to keep going for what I want from people who go the distance, overcome difficulty, reach out to others, make a difference in the world. You only get one shot at life, and there is SO MUCH I want to do in mine, so naturally, I admire her because not only has she has accomplished so much for herself, she pays it forward as well.

The Tweetup is less than two weeks away now. I feel like the sights I am going to see, the people I am going to meet- it is going to be an overwhelmingly fantastic week.

(And I KNOW Endeavour is sitting in the VAB just waiting for me to unleash my photographic skills on her forever beautiful self. ;)

Also, I am wishing, hoping, dreaming, that we get to see the Falcon 9 up close. I love SpaceX, and I saw the inaugural flight of this rocket last summer and I would love to be in its presence.

I still feel like this is a dream! 

Three weeks to go until GRAIL launch!! (and of course, the Endless BBQ!)

"Your request submitted on 08/16/2011 has been Approved.

Event: GRAIL Launch Tweetup (Confirmed NASA JPL Invitees ONLY)"


I got my NASA security clearance this week. I feel like I should be able to list this on a resume or something. Is there anything more badass than saying that you got clearance by a government agency that has an outpost full of men with big guns guarding the Canaveral Seashore NASA property line so that people can't sneak in and hitch rides to space? Of course not! Now it is just a waiting game...

We also found out this week that the #EndlessBBQ is a GO! It will be held at Cocoa Beach Brewing Company on launch day in the evening. (Time/Date subject to change though!) Follow @EndlessBBQ on Twitter for details.

It also looks like our Tweetup will be a little different than the last ones. We will have our tour in the morning, and be at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex after lunch for the guest speakers. We also pick up our badges at KSCVC. A detailed itinerary has not been given to us yet, but they did give us  those bits of information. They also have not announced where we will be viewing the Delta II launch from, although some speculate we will be watching from KARS park.

IF YOU ARE VIEWING THE LAUNCH OFF SITE: Go to the LISATS point to watch. I will give you directions if you need them and there are maps available on the LISATS website under launch operations. (I linked to their home page below) This will give you an amazing view of the launch, it is a really close view and you should be able to see it clear the pad since you can set up on the hill that builds up the overpass. You will probably get pretty close to the same view as us. If I had to guess, I would say it is around 5 miles from the launch pad, but don't depend on me, I am horrible at estimating distance.

If you go there, look for my pals Roy Hill and John Oster with LISATS. Tell them I sent you! These guys know NASA- Click here to learn more about LISATS (be sure to click on "launch operations" too)

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Pupples Wonderdog Valare's presence at the #GRAIL #NASATweetup has been requested by a fellow attendee. She must respectfully decline, as there is no way she will pass the background check. You see, she has a little problem shoplifting cow hooves off the bottom shelf when we go to Petco.... Pupples is a Catahouligan ;) She said to tell NASA that if they build a dog park, dogs will come!

Media Release For NASA Tweetup

MEDIA RELEASE

St.Cloud Resident is One of 150 Selected to Attend NASA Tweetup for Launch of Twin Lunar-Bound GRAIL Spacecraft Sept. 7 - 8, 2011

NASA Twitter Followers Will Tweet from Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

St. Cloud, Fl. August 15, 2011 - NASA will bring together 150 Twitter followers to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for a two-day Tweetup, Sept. 7 - 8, 2011, for the launch of twin lunar-bound Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. St. Cloud resident Sherry Valare has been selected as one of 150 @NASA Twitter followers to attend and Tweet the event. The launch window opens at 8:37 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 8. The two GRAIL spacecraft will measure the moon’s gravity field from its crust to core and provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

As a NASA Tweetup attendee, Valare and the other 149 Twitter users will interact with engineers and scientists from GRAIL and other upcoming NASA missions as well as tour the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. If all goes as scheduled, participants will view the spacecraft launch. In addition, the Tweetup will allow participants to meet other tweeps and members of NASA’s social media team. Attendees were selected through a lottery system in which more than 825 @NASA Twitter followers registered.

“When I got the email I was in a state of shock for about three days! My dream is to work for NASA eventually,” Valare said, “and the Tweetup is an amazing way to network and gain a deeper understanding of launch operations and the research being conducted on the mission."

She is currently studying Mathematics and Astronomy, and this will be her first NASA Tweetup. Follow her Tweets at twitter.com/catahouligan.

NASA Tweetup participants are traveling from across the United States and the globe to attend. View the list of list of registered attendees on the NASA Tweetup Twitter account: http://twitter.com/NASATweetup/grail-launch 

NASA held its first Tweetup on Jan. 21, 2009, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA’s Tweetup Twitter account is http://twitter.com/NASATweetup and participants will be using #NASATweetup in their updates while tweeting. Information about NASA Tweetup can be viewed on http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup .

About the GRAIL Mission

The two GRAIL spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field from crust to core. The mission will answer longstanding questions about Earth’s moon and provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

GRAIL's lift off is the third of four space missions launching this year under the management of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Aquarius launched June 10 to study ocean salinity; Juno will launched Aug. 5 to study the origins and interior of Jupiter; and the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity rover heads to the Red Planet no earlier than Nov. 25. Visit http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail for additional information about GRAIL.

And So It Begins!

"Congratulations! You have been selected to attend the NASA Tweetup on Sept. 7-8 in conjunction with the launch of the twin GRAIL spacecraft!

The two-day event will provide you the opportunity to tour the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; speak with scientists and engineers from GRAIL and other upcoming missions; and, if all goes as scheduled, view the spacecraft launch. The launch window opens at 8:37 a.m. EDT on Sept. 8.

I am going to see GRAIL launch atop the Delta 2 rocket in about 3 weeks!! A few days ago I received this email, and I have been walking on sunshine ever since! 


Alright, here is the deal. I never, and I mean NEVER, win things. I occasionally get to do some pretty cool things in my life because I get the hook up from some really selfless people, but random chance, "luck of the draw", was never something I was good at. There are no words that can truly express how excited I am. I absolutely adore rocket launches, NASA, space exploration, the universe, the people I have met via this passion, all of it. 


***A HUGE THANK YOU to @NASA, and all the folks that handle the @NASATweetup for this incredible opportunity. ***


You can follow my GRAIL NASATweetup adventure on Twitter (@catahouligan) on September 7 and 8.


"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." 


Stay Tuned!! :)